Paws'n'Claws
by Prussian-Blue-Bachelors-Button
Summary: Gilbert, A young man who had recently moved to the United States for college, runs into a mysterious girl during after hours at a museum. After their first encounter, his whole life he planned out for himself begins to toppled over, throwing him into a chaotic adventure full of crime, infamousy, and romance.
1. Chapter 1

All I could do was just stare- stare in paralyzing fear of the cool, calculated guns pointed directly at me, like bird dogs at the sight of a plump pheasant. Some girl was shouting at me, trying to call over the sirens and the shouts of police officers, repeated claiming things like "There they are!" or "Put your hands up!", along with other various commands for us to show submission. Barking. Barking like the damn bird dogs they are. I just wanted to retrieve my phone and get the hell out of there as soon as possible, but, of course, bad luck followed, just like always.

I finally started to recover and raise my hands, but before I could, I was roughly tugged- yet within that second, I was already on the floor- guns and people alike were booming with explosive sound. At first, I couldn't register anything- only the horrid tunnel hearing mixing with the flaring glocks and shouts; but, instantaneously, pain shot up my spine and side, an ache that throbbed agonizingly. Something had slammed into me and clung onto me tightly, so that I was pressed against the base of a statue, protected from the blazing bullets that seeked to kill. The sudden low hiss of that girl flared into my ear, startling me,"You idiot!" I didn't snap back with some snarky comment that I usually would come up with. I just laid there, covered in pain, still trying to regain my breath, while dwelling on her accent. She's clearly not from here, in fact, she sounded Russian. It was a little weird to me because I haven't met anyone else from the mainland of Europe here, besides myself (not including when my brother had visited me from Germany; of course, he hadn't move here to the States), yet I quickly dropped the thought. I just wanted to focus on living, on breathing, but that idea was short lived when I saw a gleam from the corner of my eye.

A gun. She had a gun. Sleek silver and black pistol, pointed at me, but then it moved, now pressed against my neck. The cool metal that had dug into my skin sent shivers down my spine; chilling my already aching body. My heart began to race as I searched her face in mortified horror- the only thing I could do. Her face was cold and hardened as she looked at me-like she's done this _before_ \- killing. Finally, when the shooting craze died down, she spoke. Her voice matched her expression, steely and grim. "Listen to me, and maybe things will run smoothly. Get up." Though I was hesitant, I did get to my feet. My heart felt heavy and oppressed as I did so, but the dying down of the officers' guns kept me on edge, as if it would start up again any minute.

"Go. Run and don't look back," Instead of the robotic tang of her heavily accented voice, it had a sort of sympathetic tone, soft and understanding, yet still held a sternness to it. She was helping me escape, but why? That questioning thought was interrupted when she pressed the weapon more into my neck, like a jab, but never removing it from my neck.

I swallowed, nevermind my dry mouth had nothing to soothe my parched throat. Before I started to flee I looked at her. It was hard to make out what she looked like since the only available light was the moonlight that shone through the windows and some of the yellow light of the officers' flashlights. She was blonde with tired, deep blue eyes. I noticed something awfully strange on her person though. A skull mask. It was hanging carelessly on a belt hoop by her side. I turned around and sprinted before she could react. I took off as fast as I could; feet pounding against the tile floor, creating a clamorous echo throughout the museum, in which the officers answered with their own barks of tumult. Suddenly, gunfire erupted, and was responded with more, like howling wolves. Luckily, some buzzed right past me- some barely missing while others far off. But just as I thought how lucky I was to not be hit, I felt a sharp sting on my arm, which in response I let out a sharp hiss. I just pushed myself to run faster, forcing myself not to focus on the pain. I took a sharp turn and charged straight for the emergency exit, which to my horror, when I exited, it was blocked off by a couple of officers.

They looked shocked for a second, but I bolted past them, jumping over the hood of the vehicle that blocked off the exit and ran as fast as my already weary legs were willing to go; the cool autumn air not helping my case. The bewildered shouts of the officers echoed, due to the explosive sound of gunfire. I knew they were chasing me, or at least one of them, so I didn't dare to slow down. I took corner after corner, darting around parked cars and the occasional person (who gave me questionable looks as I rushed past them), until I finally found myself by an apartment complex, in which I dragged myself up the sliding ladder and waited. It was difficult to calm down my breath, which whitened with the crisp air, and watch, and even moreso when he arrived. Panting little smoky puffs, he looked around, cursing under his breath. He roamed around the area a little more before deciding that I had hid back in the other direction, and so he returned. I didn't dare to move for awhile longer. I just laid there patiently in the cold, trying to catch my breath. I finally had hopped down and walked out of the alley way. I pulled out my phone, the very thing that made me get in that situation in the first place, and dialed my roommate's number, raising it to my ear. After a moment of listening to an annoying ring, it was answered.

"Yo, Gilbo, didja meet that cute girly or something? I bet ya did since you're late from coming back!" He laughed loudly. This comment didn't exactly humor me, and his laugh almost gave me a headache. I responded quickly,"No, I got caught up in some trouble.. Could you pick me up? I'm somewhere in Astroia, by an apartment complex close to Moving Image.." There was a second of silence from the other end, but finally, he spoke,"Yeah, yeah, sure can do, dude. I knew you said you were going to Astroia to meet someone, but a museum? I don't think that's an ideal dating spot." I rolled my eyes at that remark. Sure, I'm not that great at dating, but he was rubbing it in my face. "Whatever, just please make it over here as quickly as possible." with another laugh that'd irritate even the most tolerant of people, he hung up. With that, I tugged my deep red toboggan further down to cover both of my ears completely and slipped my phone back into my pocket.

After about ten until the next passing hour, my roommate showed up. I was basically a popsicle at that point, and I wasn't just shaking because of the cold; I did my best to kept my composure as I got in. The radio was, of course, playing 'Girl Jams', which was my roommate's guilty pleasure. "Any longer and I'd probably been dead, Alfred." I said, 'joking', but there was truth behind it, because I literally felt like I was freezing to death out there, and that wasn't the most pleasant experience. He hummed smugly,"Shouldn't be out so late then, _lover boy_."

He cackled at his own remark, which made me jeer a bit. "Never call me that ever again." He began to chuckle, but froze in silence just as quickly as he had started. "What the hell happened?" I followed his eyes, which met where the bullet had grazed my arm. I merely responded with indifference, though the look on my face was still a bit shaken up, and that definitely didn't fly past his radar. "I told you I was in trouble. It's best left unsaid.." I honestly forgot about it. The cold was numbing it's sting down and my entire body was in pain to the point I grew immune to it for a bit, and on top of that, I was too traumatized by the other happenings than a graze injury. Though, I know it will give me hell tomorrow. My entire body will. Alfred continued to poke and prod at me to tell him throughout the drive, no matter how much I assured him that I was fine and that it'd take more than that to really get to me, even though that whole incident really did.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to a banging on the door, loud and thunderous like the pounding of my head. Apparently, I had passed out on the couch; I guess I was too tired to walk to my bed. With a pained groan, I sat up- and directly afterwards that groan became an agonizing hiss. God, my body hurt. More banging, more painful throbs that coursed through my head. I stood shakily and shuffled to the door, not even caring about my disorganized, messy self. I opened the door. There stood an officer, staring keenly at me. He was short and stocky with dusty blonde hair and hazel eyes, along with slanted brows that almost resembled small mountain peaks. Even though he gave me a stern look, he seemed like a very laid back person. "Hello sir, I'd like to bring you into questioning."

The color drained from my already pale face. "Look, I wasn't involved with whatever that girl was doing- I just- really I only stayed to get my phone I had left! I had nothing to do with her, I don't even know her!" I fumbled over my words, petrified of the thought of being sent to jail or prison. He had immediately picked up on my terror and quickly did his best to dispel my anxiety. "Hey, wait, don't panic. I believe ya, it's just we need a few answers 'n explanations is all." His voice was holding reassurance, thought that did little to nothing for my fearful state of mind. "I'd rather not go." He quickly came up with a compromise, stating that he can just take some notes from here. I quickly nodded and invited him in.

There we sat on the couch, the blanket that Alfred lazily threw over me last night was laid in disarray under us, but the officer didn't mind at all. He pulled out his pocket notebook and a pen. He quickly scribbled a few things down before questioning me,"So can ya explain what happened exactly?"

"I was on a date with some chick I met online. We didn't really hit it off, so I doubt I'll see her again," this earned a chuckle from the officer,"I stayed after hours of the museum to get my phone I had left in the bathroom. It was just a few minutes it was there, so I went to check if it was there still, but it was closing it after all. I had somehow went unnoticed by the security guards, but they weren't in that area at the time, so it was understandable. I heard a sudden mess of sirens once I left the bathroom and making my way towards the emergency exit. Before I knew it, it was flooded with officers and that woman was there.." "Yes, the woman," He mused before asking,"What did she look like?" I almost answered, but then I realized. _She helped me_. I thought for a moment before answering," I can't remember in detail, but I think she was blonde, and she had a skull or something hanging off her side. I'm sorry, I was too terrified to really care about looks." My half-hearted attempt of a joke made the officer smile a bit.  
"Anything else noticeable?"  
"Her accent. It didn't sound like it was from here. I couldn't tell you what it was though."  
I lied. I was clearly some sort of European accent, but she did, after all, help me.  
"Now," He began,"Could ya tell me why your ran off?" With a sheepish, yet nervous look, I answered him promptly,"You probably won't believe this, but she held me at gunpoint. Told me to run and I did." His mountainous brows furrowed in question, then he stated the questions that plagued both his mind and brows. "Do ya know why? And why did'ja run past those other two officers?"

The latter of the two questions was what held me up. I really didn't know why, and there's no point in lying. "I honestly don't know why she did it, maybe use me as bait, maybe goodness of her heart," Again, this earned a snicker, from how ironic that possibility was," And I really don't know why I ran. I was scared. Honestly that whole incident was traumatizing."

After a few more questions, he stood. "Ah, well, nice talking to ya. I can tell you're quite the character," He started for the door, but before he left, he paused," You should go 'n do something relaxin'. Maybe coffee shop or somethin' 'ta make up for that gal ya lost from yesterday." He left with a chuckle. Well, that caught me off guard. I really wasn't suspecting an officer to give me dating advice today.

I tugged my toboggan off, which luckily I didn't take off the night before; that officer would've been much more concerned about my complexion than the issue at hand. Originally, I wasn't going to go out, but Alfred was what changed my plans. As soon as he got off his shift and back home, it was another round of questions fired about last night. He did, however, finally give up after about an hour of off and on poking at me about it, but I knew he was going to start up again the next day. The only reason why I haven't even told him was because he was the type to randomly assume things and blurt out at different intervals, which would complicate things much more. If I avoid him tomorrow, and have school the day after, I could possibly avoid his question rampage for two days.


	3. Chapter 3

The loud screeching of my alarm clock startled me awake. ' _Get up! Get up!'_ it seemed to squeal with unnatural alertness. I sat up, which was a poor decision on my part. The crisp, cool air gave me goosebumps all over. Yet, I didn't make a move to cover myself back up, nor did I shut the alarm off. I just sat there, feeling like utter shit. I finally reached across and lazily shut off my alarm before rising. I shuffled over to my dresser and snagged a shirt, throwing it on haphazardly. I shuffled into the kitchen sleepily, looking at the bright TV screen where Alfred lounged, in the love seat, staring at. Of course, he spent the entire night playing video games. He didn't peel his eyes off the screen since he was in a heated gunfight online, but he did give me a dull 'good morning'. I'm not that much of a morning person- mornings make my voice gravelly and rough, so much to the point it almost hurts to talk, or attempt to, so I merely rumbled in response. We've been roommates for about two years- long enough for him to understand and almost perfectly translate what my rumbles even mean, or at least piece them together to get a general idea.

I turned my attention to the coffee maker. Obviously there was coffee in it since Alfred pulled an all-nighter, so I decided to treat myself to it. I wasn't exactly in the mood for straight black coffee, so I turned to the fridge for the only thing that goes along perfect with black coffee. Milk. I opened the refrigerator door, and stared blankly for a moment. The milk wasn't there. ' _I bought some the other day, how the hell is it gone?'_ I began to rummage through the lower shelves to see it was misplaced, but to no avail. I closed the door in defeat after a bit, and that's when I spotted it. It was on the counter, idling. I snatched it up, yet it was pretty light. Probably only had a fifth or so left of it. Guessing a swig or two wouldn't hurt before I add some to my coffee, like there'd be enough for tomorrow anyways, I drank some. I just froze. God, it tasted awful. Before I knew it, I just spat whatever I had in my mouth out. I wasn't exactly awake enough for it to occur to me how long it was left out. "Alfred!" My shout for him was rough and full of dismay. He moved quicker than I thought he would, especially playing a fast paced shooter at the time. He peeked around the corner, slight concern crossed his face,"Hey, what's wrong, Gil?"  
"How.." My words trailed off due to the look of Alfred's face. Clearly he noticed the spoiled milk splattered messily on the floor. "How long did you leave the milk out?" Alfred glanced between me, the milk on the floor, the rest in my hand, back on the floor, then resting on me once more.

"Did you just drink that?" Stupid question, but I wasn't going to call it out on him. I wasn't in the mood, nor was it the time to tease him, besides my throat didn't feel too keen about talking at the moment.  
"Yes. I did."  
"Oh, wow, dude. Uhm, do you feel sick?"  
I was wondering that myself. I wasn't sure if it made me sick, or just me overreacting somehow. I did feel like trash, but hell, when does a college student not feel like trash other than occasionally getting blued? Besides I felt like that before I even drank it. "Don't know." That was all I could say to that.  
Even though I was perfectly capable of leading myself into the livingroom, Alfred insisted on leading me, thinking that right off the bat I have food poisoning. I probably did, but It wasn't major, so I thought I was okay.  
Boy, was I wrong.

Later on, I felt like utter shit. More-so than earlier. How my luck is with sickness, I should've saw it coming. I was either really stupid or really hopeful that I wouldn't get sick. I was dizzy not too long ago, but now I'm just a little weak at the stomach. Nothing too major, so my plan to escape the future onslaught of questions Alfred wants to ask will still be avoided. Though it wasn't playing out as I planned, it's been going smoothly, surprisingly. I pulled the blanket that was on the couch over my head. I was laying here for half an hour watching Alfred play on the Playstation his dad bought him. It was oddly quiet. It isn't this quiet when we're together. Usually we're making jokes and howling in laughter about dumb shit, or yelling at each other-no, not arguing, but more or less one of us overreacting about something insignificant and the other one of us trying to call the other back through his laughter. We were pretty rowdy, and our neighbors grown use to it. When we first moved in, We had noise complaints almost every night. After awhile, everyone gave up even trying.

I snapped awake to a knock at the door and an all too familiar call,"Oh, demon douche~" followed by a "shhh, god, we're still technically in public, and you're going to draw unwanted attention!" Alfred was already up and opened the door by the time that last sentence was finished. "Hello, hello, Alfred! I'm guessing that lazy lump on the couch is Gilbert, no?" I knew who was there, and I wasn't suspecting a visit from them at all either. It was Francis and Arthur. I pulled the blanket off my face and shifted my arm so is was supporting my weight as I lifted myself up. I was surprised to see Roderich there too, impatiently waiting like always. Francis saw me move and gave me a wave. "Uhm, hey guys! Why didn't you call to tell us you were coming over?" Alfred asked exactly what I was thinking. He stepped aside to let them in. Francis was about to say something but Roderich beat him to the punch. "That's just a waste of time and phone minutes. You'd let us in anyways." Well, he had a point there.

While the other two made their place in one of the two decently stuffed chairs or loveseat, Francis just decided to sit directly on top of me. I knew he was doing was just out of spiteful fun, but having sixty-eight or so kilograms piled on top of you while you're sick and injured is not exactly a fun time.  
"Could you get off me?"  
"Hm? What's the matter, mon ami?"  
Alfred loosely grabbed his arm and lightly tugged it, signaling for him to get up. "He's not feeling too good, Francy-pants." Francis quickly got up and sat in the the remaining chair. "Cold again? He had it last week and it's claimed his life again!" Francis wailed dramatically while Arthur just gave a 'tch' in response to Francis's acting. "No. Food poisoning. He drank spoiled milk that was left out yesterday." Roderich chuckled dryly at this,"Let me guess, was it because you bet money?" Alfred shook his head,"No, it was just..Kinda there. And he took a sip. He was still a little dead from sleep so I think he wasn't thinking straight." Everyone gave me various levels of apologetic looks after that.

It was my turn to give everyone a 'tch' now. Roderick assumed I'd risk going to the hospital for money (I mean I probably would if it was a pretty solid amount, but still.) and Alfred turned it all into a pity party. "Anyways, you all didn't come here to throw me a pity party. Why are you here?" Arthur perked up at this one," You didn't hear? Someone broke into Moving image. For all we know she was trying to steal something there. Not sure why someone would be interested in a bunch of old cameras though."

I froze. I knew that that was what _she_ was doing there. It had to be. It was weird that she would, out of all places, decide to thieve from there, but it doesn't matter. "What's the matter? You're acting awfully strange, Gilbert."Francis inquired. I was lucky Alfred hadn't put two and two together to figure out I was there. He is awfully naive too, so maybe it wasn't luck. "Nothing, I was just shock too, I mean, seems bizarre that someone would go for a place like that." Roderich nodded and carried on where Arthur left off,"Strangely, they couldn't catch her. She somehow out ran them and hid somewhere."  
"At one point she even took a hostage!" Francis exclaimed, biting a part of his shirt and pulling on it, continuing to wail through his clenched teeth,"Oh, how vile such a beautiful flower can be! So gentle but so deadly!" Arthur took it upon himself to quiet Francis by prying his shirt out of his mouth and telling him to 'stop your whimpering, prat!'. I don't know what 'Prat' means, but I think it's safe to assume it was an insult. And speaking of insults, I'm glad Alfred was either dumb enough or too naive to actually connect the dots that I was the said hostage.


	4. Author's Note1

**Welp, sorry for the delayed upload. You see, I had file complications and I was so upset about it I didn't want to re type around 3,000 words. BUT, I retyped it all and took it a different direction and shortened it a bit. I don't think people would like to read 3,000 words in one go, but I also wanted to lengthen it for my delayed activity.**


	5. Chapter 4 (Part 1)

It's been two hours and our friends still haven't left. They've been chatting up a storm and cheering Alfred on during his play sessions, like the dedicated fans of football back at home. I was starting to feel better, so I decided that I'd leave them to it and have a little bit of alone time to think over exactly what happened at Moving Image. It's been plaguing my mind since it happened. I slipped on my jacket and toboggan, and snatched the keys before I took my leave.

The weather was odd today. The sky was cloudless; the sun beat down on everything below, yet even so, it was a windy day- one that left you feeling chilled no matter how thick your jacket was. It was also damp in a few areas, evident it had rained last night. I decided to haul my ass to Starbucks. I usually avoided it like the plague; it was way too expensive for a cup of coffee, plus it wasn't even that great. I mean, it's better than the almost literal shit Alfred used to drink, but I digress.

I was just standing in line, staring out the window then I saw another classmate of mine. Her name was Yekaterina, but she was usually called 'Katyusha' by everyone else because of a professor failed to pronounce her name. She was passing by on her moped (the ones with the sort of motorcycle framework), looking worried. What was weird about it was the fact that I lived in College Point. I'm pretty sure she lived on campus. After I got my coffee, I decided to go after her, but I had no idea where she went, so I just headed to campus to check. I was passing through Astroia, in fact, I was just about to head into Manhattan, when I saw something I had to get another good look at to confirm my eyes weren't playing tricks. It was the skull. That face mask thing I saw on that chick. It was partially sticking out of a backpack from a woman. I parked the car in the closest parking lot I could find (luckily it was a restaurant so I didn't have to pay for parking), and follow suite after her. It took a little bit for me to catch up to her, but she almost instantly knew she was being followed. She kept heading into less crowded areas until she was only dodging through alleyway through alleyway.

I was starting to get more wary now. She was probably going to assault me and the only real 'weapon' I had was my car keys. I had one hand in my pocket just in case she did attack. I don't care if she's a woman, I'm not going defenseless. She suddenly made for a mad dash, which shocked me, and gave me an extra late start. I managed to keep her semi-close somehow. ' _Damn, she's fast..'_ I was struggling to keep up with her. I wouldn't be slower than her if it weren't for the fact I was sick and injured. She basically flung herself onto a complex's ladder and scrambled up it, with me hauling myself up behind her. Large shots of pain shot up my arm every time I hoisted myself up. My head hung as I climbed, watching carefully not to slip since it was damp. I threw up a quick glance to measure our distance, only to look again to see if I saw correctly, and, well, I did. I didn't really notice her clothes before, and, well, she was wearing a skirt. Frankly, I could see her panties. I just stayed fixated for a moment, which made me mentally scold myself for letting that perverted little moment happen and not look away. I did look to the side after what shouldn't've been a hesitated delay, and scramble up as fast as possible behind her. ' _My mission's not for a good ass view, dammit!'_ Being a lonely college student really has its drawbacks..

I scrambled up, hot on her heels as she ran to the far end of the roof. She swung around to meet me, phone in hand. A stare down between chaser and chasee. "You again?!" Clear disgust reeked from her voice, which took me aback. No, I wasn't suspecting something like 'Oh holly-ho, dearest!'- honestly I don't know what I was suspecting, but that wasn't it. "Who the hell did you think it was? Ol' Saint Nick ready to give you coal early this year?" If she wanted to be snappy, I'd feed it right back without a care in the world.  
"Honestly that would be a better situation. I've never committed an act of arson, but if you're planning to track me all around this city, I'd like to make you my first 'subject'," She shot back coolly. There was that accent again, too; I could pinpoint that it was east european- maybe she's from one of the eastern slavic countries.  
"Wow, harsh. Willing to kill a man who only wants answers."  
"The same man who decided to follow a lone woman into an alleyway and chase her."  
At this point I was so tempted to mess with her, she was trying to make me look bad in front of myself. The balls she got for saying that, like it'd work anyways. I hadn't done anything wrong to her and she already hated me. Why? What the fuck did I do?  
I scoffed and shot back,"You whipped out a gun on a police force, proceed to fire at them, and held a gun up against me, an innocent bystander. Clearly, you're the one that needs a little more self control. Why did you even involve me? Trying to bait them with me?"  
She said indifferently,"Yes, actually."

This chick was colder than dry ice. Colder than ice and salt on the flesh. I was overcome with anger at this point- she was so apathetic about it too. I clenched my fist and stared at her, and without thinking, I charged at her. I saw emotion on her face for once, and that was a blend of shock and confusion. Wide eyed, slightly open mouth, and that slight recoil, as if bracing for impact for a second, but she managed to find her feet and rush to the side. I halted. There was actual emotion. She wasn't some battle hardened gal, no matter how much she acted. She may be cold, but she's not below zero.

She sprinted, directly towards the adjacent side of the building, and jumped, landing on the next one awkwardly. She began to scurry to the other side. I didn't want to start this chase again, but I wasn't giving up. This may've been a very Alfred-ish thing to do, but I wanted justice- no, revenge. Karma serves justice; I just want to serve it before karma does. I to jumped to the next building, which was a close call from a fall for me. I picked myself up and ran after her, which she was about to make her next jump. The building was a little higher up, so she had to rely on some climbing. God, more climbing. The thought of it made my arm ache even more. When I did rush over there and jump, it was like my arm was being crushed sideways by a boulder as soon as I clung onto the building's edge. I dragged myself up with a heave, and once more picked myself up. This continued for ten minutes, but it felt more like ten hours. We ran and jump down- either onto another building or onto one's fire escape, which we rushed up- and we ran and jumped, having to pull ourselves up onto the roof. Finally she stopped, looking down. Like her, I was heavily breathing, but I still approached her.

"Are..You finally…..Done?" I paused between breaths. She flat out ignored me. I didn't ask again because I needed to catch my breath. After a moment, she started walking to the edge, which made me snag her wrist, and with the best glare I could ever muster, I asked,"Where the hell do you think you're going?" She glared back, easily matching my own,"Let go of me." Of course I didn't, so she resorted to twirling her hand unnaturally, forcing me to let go because my hand couldn't twist that far. She took a few steps back, but didn't make a move to run off the roof, as if she was waiting. That's when I heard exactly what she was waiting for. There was a rumbling of a motor approaching, though, it didn't sound like a car or truck's motor; a more tame motorcycle rumbling is what it sounded like. She started to rush to the buildings side once again, which I dashed to snag her, but she jumped off before I could grab her. After a second, a loud thud accompanied by a rattle; she had landed on top of the dumpster, which was 'luckily' closed. She scampered away to something I wasn't suspecting. It was Katyusha on her moped. "Nat, stop getting yourself in unnecessary trouble!" Katyusha worriedly called out. I didn't bother to chase after her, partially because I was tired, but mostly because I knew I wouldn't keep up.

"Katyusha?"  
She looked up at me when I called out her name; her face's color turned pallid; it's once vibrant, peachy hue was completely drain, and instead was replaced by pale shock. As soon as 'Nat' had gotten on the metal extent where a second cushion belonged, Katyusha kicked off the ground, her moped sped away, leaving me alone and confused on the building.

I cut this chapter into two parts because:  
1) It's a little on the long side  
2) the second part is filler; literally you don't have to read it to know anything about the next chapter. It's sort of to elaborate on the group's friendship and how it runs so they're not randomly thrown in there for shits'n'giggles. It's also so if I find myself in a tight spot on writing, I could use them to set a sort of foundation in the story so it continues. The story's been a bit bumpy, much to my dismay, so it's to help it a bit. The story's a pair of large anime titties and the friend group is it's (possibly uneeded) push-up bra, to put it in perspective.  
NOTE: there's no side pairings in this just saying so you don't get your hopes up. lmao. 


	6. Chapter 4 (Part 2)

Getting back to my car seemed like a long-ass trip, and when I did get back to my car, Alfred was waiting, sucking on a drink and leaned against my car. Arthur's car was parked right beside it, yet he was nowhere in sight. It was an old red Citation; wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world, but you could tell it was kept up pretty well besides a fews scratches and some small dents here and there. As for my car, It was a Caprice Classic. Probably the ugliest color on the damn thing- a sort of greyish-purple- yet, it somehow looked great on the car.

Alfred threw up a hand and offered me a wave,"Hey, Gilbo! We were looking for ya."  
"Hey, Al," I glanced at Arthur's car,"Arthur's not with you, huh?"  
He gave the straw one last loud slurp before musing,"Not right now. After a bit we got worried about you so we left to find ya. I thought we should scooby-doo it and split up, but, of course, Roddy got lost, so Fran went out to find him. Art's inside taking a leak right now," he gestured towards the restaurant. Great. Roderich's lost. Again. He hasn't actually been here for long, but he did say he was prone to getting lost, and maps just make it all the more messy for him.

Usually I'm the one that tracks him down, but since I wasn't here, Francis had stepped up to take my place. Arthur was now leaving the building, and picked up the pace when he saw me there with Alfred. "There you are," His voice was relieved, surprisingly not exasperated. Before I could say anything, Alfred declared,"Let's get going! Now we need to find the other two!" Alfred got into Arthur's car, followed by Arthur, himself. I decided not to join them in the car because one: I have my own car, and two: five men in a car, especially three stuffed in the back, was not a very comfortable idea.

Alfred had the window down and had Rod on the phone within a second of getting in,"Hey, we found him-" "More like I found you," I corrected him. He just gave me a 'Yeah, whatever' before asking Rod where they were. Roderich sort of stumbled around a bit with his words- he didn't give a direct answer. Arthur's feistiness started to shine through after Roderich's rambling and the fact Alfred called him and not Francis.  
"Give me that-"  
"Huh? No, no- Hey, you have your own phone! Give it back!"  
Arthur held up the phone to his left ear, the one farthest from Alfred, while fending him off with his free hand, all the while ordering poor Roderich to give the phone to Francis.

If there's one thing that our little group is, it's unstable. One second everyone's working together, and the next is us fighting about either irrelevant things or what to do and/or how to do it properly. It reminds me of those sitcoms, the one's about family life, where the siblings always fight over the dumbest shit. That all felt surreal to me because my little brother Ludwig and I never acted like this. Sure, we bumped heads from time to time, but instead of literally fighting tooth and nail, we'd attempt to compromise. Or until one of us get pissed enough to leave the room. Then again, he isn't much on uneeded violence and tries to prevent it as much as possible. But with my friends, these scuffles were almost routine, not to mention they sort of formed into family to me. One that was a little more reckless and a whole lot less judgemental.

Arthur has finally gotten Francis on the phone it seemed, and even then it took him a bit it figure it out.  
"I think Mott Haven?" Francis said, more of questioning himself than telling Arthur. "How could you not know?! You've lived here longer than the rest of us, you should know!" Arthur half-yelled into the phone. He was pretty fiery today, apparently.  
"Alright, Alright! You don't have to yell at me, friend! I'm already suffering standing in the parking lot of this disgusting, over-priced greasy-pizza hell! And just because I lived here longer doesn't mean I am the god of New York suddenly!"

We all knew exactly where he was at once we heard that. He was parked at a Pizza Hut, out of all places. I found it pretty funny because he hated the place with a burning passion, and here he was standing in front of one. They both looked at me to confirm what he said was right, which I really didn't know since I wasn't up north often, but I just bullshitted it and said 'yeah'. Worse-case scenario was Arthur yelling at me, but that's not _that_ bad.

Alfred rolled up the window and buckled in, which Arthur responded with firing up his car. He never wore his seatbelt though, mainly because the car he had before his Citation was his parents' old Nova, which he narrowly dodged getting in a crash with someone by slamming on his breaks, sending the car jack in the back windshield to go flying over his head and through the front windshield. If he was wearing his seatbelt he would've suffered horribly- possibly he would not even being here right now because of it.

Initially, I wasn't planning to join them, but I ended up following them anyways. For once luck was on my side, because Francis was right, they were in Mott. It took us forever to find it and not one of us was actually thoughtful enough to realize google maps was a thing. But, I will say, it was worth watching Arthur and Alfred fight over the radio the entire time as I rode behind them.

Francis was more than relieved to see us too. A little too much. He was borderline praising us like gods for coming to pick him up, which caused Arthur to start stuffing him in the backseat with pure, Slightly-angered embarrassment on his face. Alfred was just laughing it off and put Francis's bicycle in my backseat without asking me, but seeing how they had nowhere else to keep it in arthur's car, I didn't try to fuzz.

After that whole fiasco of getting Francis's eccentric, overjoyed ass contained, I got in my car, which surprisingly Roderich joined me. I gave him questioning look, but he didn't even look at me, but he understood I had a question awaiting to be answered. "I rather be riding with one dumbass than three, with one that probably can't keep his eyes on the road for a second without trying to stop one of the other two being problematic," He deadpanned. "Couldn't even humor me and say 'you looked lonely so I thought I'd be a friend'?" I feigned being heartbroken by his comment. "No, Gilbert. Can't risk raising your egotism. God knows what kind of high that'll give you," Of course, he was just joking, but I couldn't help but think that his humor reminded me of that 'Nat' girl. What she said about being an arsonist did have a sense of sarcasm, but also gave me a sense of that she was actually considering it. Damn, for a girl I barely know, it seems like she'll be invading my thoughts more often. It's pretty ironic, but I found some humor in it's irony. I started the car and led the way back to the apartment.

Roderich and I sat in silence for a bit. It wasn't stiff or awkward, just comfortable silence. I was too deep in thought about school to tease Rod at the moment, but he seemed like he was in the same boat. "Gilbert, you've been acting awfully strange today. You've gone all day without throwing an insult at me, and you're not as rowdy. You didn't even involve yourself with the others when they were trying to calm francis down. Usually you're all over anything to do with fighting," He looked at me skeptically.  
I couldn't lie to him, but I rather keep my pride than say a noodle-armed girl snagged me. Plus saying I borderline stalked her earlier doesn't sound so dandy.  
I shrugged indifferently,"I dunno. I haven't been up for it today I guess. I mean I still feel a little sick and tired." Probably the poorest excuse on the face of the planet, left at the mercy of the god of sass to pick at like a vulture until it's nothing but dry bone. He responded flatly,"One time you had the flu and almost got in a fist-fight with Alfred because he wouldn't give you the keys to your car so you could go to school. 'A little sick' doesn't cut it."  
I couldn't find any suitable response for that, so I just pulled some bullshit out my ass and hoped it was suitable to his needs. "I don't know. People have their chill days and I'm no different. I don't know what you're trying to get out of this, but there's nothing there, whatever you're searching for." He stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time, which I couldn't return because safety is much more important than awkwardly staring at your friends. I'm afraid Roderich may've figured it out. And that's not good whatsoever.


	7. Chapter 5

Today was philosophy, and luckily I had the same class as Katyusha. As soon as I entered the class, I saw her sink a little in her seat. I hauled ass to sit next to her, of course. I wasn't going to let this chance go. I needed to know who 'Nat' was and what their connection was.

Francis and Arthur were here early, Francis was just to bug the living hell out of Arthur, while Arthur just liked to get there early. I mean, I was here early too, but Arthur always got here before everyone else. Francis noticed me sitting next to Katyusha, and this perked his interest highly. So much so he decided to make his way over and tease me about 'flirting'.

"I see it didn't take so long after your last poor bout of luck, no?" He chuckled. How did he even know about my last date? I didn't even tell Alfred about it, and Francis would be the last person I'd tell anyways. I loved him like a brother, but damn was he nosy. Last time I told him about me and a girl he followed me and her around for a full hour while blowing up my phone with 'advice'. Of course we never got around to meet up again after that.  
"No, I'm not asking her out, keep your nose in your own business, french fries!" I shot up. After that, the insults and playful prods continued from there. I noticed that Kat was inching away, ever so slowly away from me. The answers to my questions trying to slip away like a rabbit trying to sneak past a wolf's radar.

I turned to face her; my hand caught her arm roughly. I must've looked pretty pissed because her face formed in such a way that looked like she was petrified, as if I did turn into a wolf. "You have a lot of explaining," I gave her arm a squeeze to empathize that I meant it,"And Francis, stop trying to control my love life, for the love of God." This earned a chuckle from my surrounding classmates, which I didn't see leak into the room as we bickered. I was surprised that no one actually tried to make a move to pull her away since she looked so spooked. "Hmph, alright, alright, but let go of Katyusha, Gilbert. You're certainly terrifying your lover, and that's not healthy for relationships."  
"I told you she's not my girlfriend!" I exclaimed, exasperated. I had let go of Katyusha as soon as I did so. Again, a few giggles crept out of the handful of students. I think it's pretty clear now that Francis has a knack for embarrassing me in public, but I never learn, I guess.  
I got down to eye level with her, which put me in the position of an awkward half crouch. "Tell me after class." With that, I stood, and strode over to my usual seat.

I sat next to Arthur, who was currently talking to per usual, the kid that sat on the other side of me wasn't here. He was this dark-haired kid, who always had his hair flared up in the craziest of ways, and olive eyes. He also didn't like me. Well, he didn't like anyone really. Or at least he gives off that impression. He also gives off the impression of a rich kid- always had his sunglasses on hand even though it's winter, a gold chain necklace, but not the one's the wanna-be rappers wear, and some sort of pastel-ish dress shirt with white dress pants. That's literally what he wore everyday. He always tries to act like a badass and calls me 'Bellboy' because he doesn't know how to pronounce my last name, nevermind I have a first name. But then again, I can never remember his name either, so we're even.

And speaking of the devil, he had just walked in. Usually he'd come in late, but today he was early.

He tossed his stuff beside his seat and sat down. The usual half scowl, half neutral look was on his face, and almost never changing. He just pulled out his notepad and recorder and waited patiently until our professor arrived. He kinda reminds me of Alfred's dad, honestly. Both loaded with money and both look like angry, old men. Only difference was one had a reason to be one.

The class dragged on painfully slow, not to mention thoughts of what Katyusha might tell me later was nagging at me, along with homesickness. Sure it's been a couple of years since I was back home, but That didn't change the fact I missed my friends and family, and especially because Christmas was around the corner, and after that my birthday. I miss Ludwig and his adorable, bubbly Italian friend, along with his polar opposite brother. And Liz. Even now it still hurts a bit thinking about her.

When we were little, we were pretty troublesome alone, but together we were like tiny, destructive demons ready to free our wrath out on the world any time. Which is ironic because, for a child, I was very religious. So much so to the point I wrote in these journals I had everyday in detail because I wanted God and Jesus to know everything about me. My dad and grandfather took it as an advantage and snooped through them to see what I've done wrong, and after punishing me I'd always ask through my pitiful tears 'How did you know?' and the response was always the same: 'Jesus told me.'.

But most of the time, in those journals, I would write about Liz's 'adventures' with me and other problematic things we did. As I got older I still wrote in journals occasionally to vent my emotions, because I didn't want Ludwig or my father think I was a wuss (like writing in a book even made matters better), even then, a lot of my writings were about Liz. The only difference was as I got older, they became more intimate. I was getting around the age of 'noticing girls', and logically Liz was truly the first I really noticed. Or even cared for. She ended up being my first crush, but, of course, I was scared of being shot down. When I was sixteen I finally did tell her how I felt, after around two years of hoping the crush I had on her would pass, which clearly it didn't.

And she did, in fact, turn me down. We still tried to be friends after that, but she shied away from me, knowing well that I still felt that way towards her. Actually, she's the whole reason why I moved here, to the States, to begin with. I guess I felt like the only option I had at forgetting her was to literally run from my 'problems'- her. Well, another reason why I chose the states and not somewhere like Canada or Siberia, was also because of Alfred. We were online friends for quite awhile, and once I told him about my rough plan, he jumped on it, saying I could be 'roomies' with him.

I jumped back into reality when my professor had one of his 'outrageous fits'. For an old man, he was lively, and also loved telling philosophical stories, so it was natural for him to get way into it at times. I felt slightly embarrassed for even jumping at that. Well, everyone around me now knows I wasn't paying attention and not taking any sort of 'notes' at all.

The rest of class passed with my thoughts still waning in and out with the professor's lecture and note-taking. I was going to have to ask to borrow his recorder, wasn't I? Today isn't my day, once again. After a bit, he did finally dismiss us, and I made sure Katyusha didn't get away. When she left the room I was hot on her heels.  
"Kat," I said, which she stopped, thinking there was no way to get out of this.  
She seemed really nervous, like she was about to tell the biggest secret known to man.  
"Yes?" The uncertainty in her voice peaked. I sighed, she was probably going to make this hard. "Tell me everything about 'Nat'. Your connections with her, why she was apparently stealing, and how she got away in Moving Image." She was quiet for a long amount of time before saying,"Come with me. I don't want any listeners." She started to head out of the hall and went outside. No one seemed to be around, aside a camera, but Katyusha kept going, out to an uninhabited area of the parking lot.

She took a deep breath and sighed,"This is more like a story, so please stick with me on this, Gilbert." I nodded, and in that instant, the premonition of something strange hit me hard. Like what I was about to hear was something I shouldn't be sticking my nose in at all.


	8. Chapter 6

She swallowed, hesitated a moment, then started to speak again,"Natalya is my sister," Her voice was soft and slow; cautious like a mouse near a trap. That explained the reason she knew her, but It just cause more questions for me.

"You see, our family's never had much riches. We were poor and owned very little. We just had enough to keep us alive and well. But I wanted to go to college here, in America, but we couldn't afford it. That was until Nat started showing up with money after coming home late from school. She told us that she 'placed bets afterschool and won'. Mom told her to never do that again, but didn't take it away from her. She gave it to me and told me the real reason why in private."

Katyusha fell silent for a moment before continuing,"She stayed 'afterschool' frequently, until it became an everyday thing," I realized that 'staying afterschool' must've been something along the lines of selling her body. She was doing it for her sister to make her dreams possible. "She brought home money everyday. I didn't want to tell mom out of the blue that I already raised enough money to take all three of us, my two siblings and I, to America because that would seem suspicious, but me saying it in general was too," Katyusha explained. "I did end up telling her, and we moved here, but we were still in a major need of money. I was going to college and we needed a place to live, so she sort of picked up on 'commissioning'. She just does a bunch of dirty jobs, usually for richer people."

So that was her entire story. Why she does the things she does was for her family. It was sort of unbelievable due to how she acted, but it did make sense. How much she put herself through to support her loved ones was made me question if I would do the same for my family. After a long moment, I decided that I would've done all she did too.

"Look, Gilbert, I don't know what she did to make you angry, but I apologise. I don't want you getting mixed up in our affairs. It might get you in real trouble, okay?" She sounded sincere. This just led me to think hard and long about it. Even though what she was doing was for her family, it was still wrong. She was endangering her life and other men and women. Ones that have families like herself. Like me. I finally made up my mind and told her I wasn't going to make any promises, but that I would try to stay away. Fat chance at that, though. I was no longer in need of revenge, but now I had a new goal: stopping her from doing any other fucked up shit.

After leaving Katyusha on that curt note, I drove back home to the less than tidy apartment. ' _Boy, I have some cleaning to do.'_  
"Buuuuuuuut, I'll ignore it. For a bit," I responded to my own thoughts. Nothing better than talking to yourself, amirite?

I tossed my bag on the couch and plopped down beside it. That's when I remembered that I had to somehow get into contact with that little shit in my class for notes. I stuffed my hand into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I quickly messaged Arthur if he knew his email or anything; only to get no reply. Well, that was understandable since he was at work. Ironically, he worked at the same place Alfred did, and the same shift. It's a wonder how anything gets done there with those two. God knows what their constant bickerings are about.

My thoughts were interrupted by the little 'ting' that signaled he had responded. Luckily, he did know his email, which was just his weird ass firstname, Morro, and his lastname, only a period to distinguish between the two. Back in Germany, the government would've surely stopped his parents from naming him that.

I quickly went to my email and messaged him. No response. Damn, I feel like that one friend everyone avoids because no one likes him, yet he persists to hang out with them. With a huff, I sunk into the couch. Yeah, I had an essay to write, but honestly, I could bullshit through it at anytime. I watched the professor grade a couple of times; he only counts the pages. I refreshed my inbox every now and then, and wouldn't you know? Moore actually responded.

Basically the whole message was nagging at me like he's my mom for not paying attention, but he was willing to make a digital copy and send it my way. Except there was a catch. It was more or less, "hey if I ask you to do something for me too, you better do it" deal. I wasn't too concerned with it. I was more or less shot and drank spoiled milk, so I don't think I could get any lower in the barrel than I am now. So yeah, I agreed.

I sat there, refusing to clean, and rotating between my phone and the Playstation. I was playing Rocket League, and I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty good at it. Alfred gets so pissed while playing; it's kinda funny to watch him struggle at it. Almost no one has a sense of team composition in the game, so it's a free-for-all of cars chasing after an absurdly large ball. Where chaos reigns supreme, so do I, in gaming, of course.  
I was decent at games like Counterstrike and Overwatch, but Alfred always bested me in those. It's probably because I spent my time only picking out certain people on the opposing team to piss them off and not caring about my surroundings since I never took those games seriously, or as seriously as I took Rocket League.

I did pull myself away from it after a bit because I had to take notes of today's lecture and that little-not-so-little essay I had to do.

It took me about two hours of playing, pausing, rewinding, skipping, and replaying until I was satisfied with what I had, but then once I got to my essay, I was borderline burned out and my mind was back on Little Miss Mystery ( I knew her name was Natalya, but I wasn't going to not give her a nickname.).

Katyusha may have relieved a few burning questions, but she didn't answer the one thing on my mind. Has she ever killed anyone? And will she kill without hesitation, like for a job? This troubled me more than it should, but remembering that she did open fire on the forces that day did make me rethink what Katyusha said- that I should back off for my own good. Was it really worth the trouble? I know I can't help everybody, but after what Katyusha told me, I feel like I need to reach out to her, at least. I'm a brother myself and I understand, to a point, where she's coming from. I don't know why, but I want to help her out of the mess she's thrown herself in- I feel obligated to. Guess it's because it seems like no one else tried to. Well, I'll proudly be the first, and if I get shot, all I can say is that it wasn't the first time.


	9. Author's Note2

My apologies, but This story will be on hiatus. Sorry for not saying so sooner, but I sorta rushed myself to get the chapters out quicker, which caused the quality of the story dropped drastically from the first entry. I am taking this hiatus to hone my writing skills and because I have been working on a play as well as other things at the moment. This story will be finished, even I might rewrite the whole thing entirely to make a better product in the end. To be honest the whole story has been just typing ideas off the top of my head.


End file.
